Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-03-19
BUYING FERTILIZERS.


Ordinarily the average farmer can
not afford to buy feed, nor can he TO any |
great extent afford to purchase manure.
If the farm has been allowed to run
down through continued cropping With
out m%anuring or rotating so that the
field has run down below Il profitable
margin. it may do TO purchase COM
mercial fertilizers in order to increase
the yield. The principal dependence
of the farmers must be upon barnyard
manure and rotation.
If by using commercial fertilizers
you can increase the yield of the crops
so that more stock can be kept,
and thereby increase your supply
of farm-made manure, there may be
many Western farmers who a make
the investment profitable, So feed. If
you have a good supply Of corr fodder,
wheat or oat straw, timothy and clover
hay, you can buy bran and oil meal
| generally and feed with profits. For
this reason, wheat or oat straw IN them
selves are not Il complete feed, In fact
they are of considerable less value Of
either of the others. But by taking
clover, wheat, or oat straw and bran
or meal, say in a feed of twenty-five
pounds, YOU can give eleven each of
clover and wheat or oat straw and
three pounds of bran, and YOU have a
feed equal to or nearly so to twenty-five
pounds of good timothy hay-by COM
biGing you make the straw nearly
equal in 3alue with hay-bccause it sup
plies what the clover and bran lacks
and then makes up what is deficient in
the other. This, of course, greatly re-
duces the cost of feeding and in many
cases considerably increases the sup
ply. Profitable feeding implies having
good stock and then feeding so as to
secur the largest gain at the smallest
expense. 1t does not pay to feed stock
unless you a secure Il steady gain
from the start, But at the same time
the expenses should be made as light
as possible in order to increase the
profits; under such circumstances feed
can be purchased and fed out with
profit.
If properly managed securing a large
crop should enable us to feed an in.
creased number of stock. Then if fee
under good shelter, using all necessary
precautions to make and save all til,
manure possible, we can secure alargei
q amount of manure, and with gOot
management this ought to increase tn,
, yield of the crops again.
{ In order to secure a start of this kline
you can purchase fertilizers and Otter
you can purchase feed with profit. !
n your farm is ordinarily rich, and Is no
cropped out by following n crop will
h the same year after year until all th'
plant food required for that variety o
crops is nearly or quite exhausted. B,
adopting a plan of rotation and econ
d omicM feeding the fertility can b
d gradually increased. More stock fe,
and marketed and your profits will b
n increased accordingly.
y ] buy bran for milk cows the yea
IS round because the larger flow of mil
and the increased value of the manur
a is sufficient to give me Il good profit
, Good clover hay and bran rs a stapl
d food is one of the best and cheapes
feeds for milk COWS | can obtain, an
st the quality of the manure is eonsidera
bly, increased by this combination.
IS do not mean to imply that every farme
will find these his cheapest feeds, onl
give my experience. Bran in nearl
all cases increases the value OF tn
1t manure and in a rundown farm ca
nearly always be used in combinatio
p with other foods probably. And Z
h good economy when you are attemp
it ing to build up the farm to take adval
tage of each combination as can
q done profitably that will enable you I
Is feed more stock and secure more m,
Y nure.-M u Shepherd, III Des Moin,
(b') Leader